Federal opioid report singles out state, local deaths

On Sunday, a 32-year-old woman became the 24th person in Milford to overdose on opioids so far this year.

She was the second one to die.

The unidentified woman was unresponsive when her sister found her at 3 in the afternoon.

A combination of police work, the availability of naloxone, a regional substance abuse program at the Milford Police Department, the Juvenile Advocacy Group and Amy Leone of Community Impact are pushing back hard on an opioid epidemic that is running through Massachusetts communities like a speeding freight train. Even though 80 addicts got help from those programs, some fall back on their dangerous habits.

The number of overdoses has been climbing in Milford for several years, according to Police Chief Tom O'Loughlin, who tracks opioid overdoses. Last year, there were 92 overdoses and 15 overdose deaths. The year before, there were 48 overdoses and four deaths.

A recent federal report details a broader and equally grim picture of the epidemic in Massachusetts. According to a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the state had the highest rate of opioid-related emergency room visits in 2014 among 43 states and Washington, D.C.

For every 100,000 residents, there were 450.2 opioid-related emergency room visits, according to the report. That’s more than double the national rate of 177.7 for that year. Maryland was a distant second with 300.7, followed by Rhode Island at 298.3.

Opioid-related deaths have steadily increased each year since 2010, from 532 to an estimated 1,979 in 2016, according to the state Department of Public Health.

Of the 6,058 deaths of people aged 15-54 last year, 18 percent of those - 1,133 - were attributed to opioid use.

Dr. Jeff Hopkins, directory of the Emergency Department at Milford Regional Medical Center, said number of people seeking treatment for a range of opioid-related heath problems has steadily increased for about a decade, although he did not have numbers.

Several patients visit the emergency room each day with an opioid-related issue, Hopkins said. Not all of those visits are for overdoses. Some try to get help for their addiction at the one place that’s never short of beds or particular about health insurance.

Others seek treatment for different opioid-related complications, like an infected injection site, drugged-driving crash or other underlying opioid ailments.

A significant part of the problem, Hopkins said, is getting treatment, particularly for the uninsured and under-insured. Most opioid abuse, Hopkins said, takes place after hours when drug counselors and other substance abuse programs aren’t available.

“They tell me, ‘This is the place I know I can go at any hour, any time,’” Hopkins said. “That tells me that we have a problem with access.”

Hopkins noted the success of several local programs, including the regional substance abuse program and more collaboration between those involved and the hospital.

Still, treatment isn’t mandatory and many addicts aren’t ready to get help when they wind up in the hospital. In some cases, prescriptions for naloxone, known as Narcan, are given, Hopkins said. Many pharmacies don’t require prescriptions to purchase Narcan, a nasal spray that blocks the effects of opioids and reverses an overdose.

“We’ve had too many heartbreaking discussions with family members about some who overdosed or overdosed and died,” Hopkins said. “Every one is too many.”

Though Milford has been hit hard, other communities have similar stories to tell. Hudson, Framingham, Ashland and Natick share a state grant under the Massachusetts Opioid Abuse Prevention Collaborative. The $100,000 annually will help the towns develop plans specific to their communities.

Even in smaller towns like Hudson, first responders are deploying Narcan roughly once every two weeks on average, according to Deputy Fire Chief Stephen Geldart.

Hudson firefighters have used Narcan six times in 2017, said Geldart. In at least one of those cases, the person died, he said.

Rescue workers most recently used Narcan on March 25. The medication "saves a lot of lives," but people still need help breaking their addictions afterwards, Geldart said.

"I don't have an answer for it," Geldart said. "It's one of those things. Whoever thought that when they we're prescribing painkillers they would be as addictive as they were."

The woman who died of an opioid overdose in Milford on Sunday took her first steps toward addiction with a prescription for painkillers to blunt the discomfort of an injury, O'Loughlin said.

She was not known to police as an opioid user, O'Loughlin said/ The epidemic is indiscriminately inflicting its pain, he said.

"You're wrong if you don't think it's there," he said.

Reporter Jonathan Dame contributed to this report.

Zachary Comeau can be reached at 508-634-7556 and zcomeau@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZComeau_MDN.